


The Fox and I

by Izzy (Izzy_Dur)



Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25805641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzy_Dur/pseuds/Izzy
Summary: What happens when Naruto meets the tenant within for the first time? Let’s find out.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	The Fox and I

**Author's Note:**

> The pains of writing a one-shot... so many ideas come out of it that you gotta kill 'em quick before that one-shot becomes a 15-chapter journey with added epilogue. Anyway, enjoy.

"Woooooow... it's so big in here! And dark! And... kinda smelly, too—what's with all this sewer water? And why are you so huge! You're a fox, aren't you? Those are way smaller, are you like the boss fox?"

This was the little boy's first time meeting the towering tenant that resided within him. There were always glimpses here and there that came like flashes of lightning... visions of a row of sharp teeth wider than a building... bristling fur that moved as if on fire... demonic red eyes that bled destruction and a lust for carnage... all of it joined together to create a beast beyond reason.

The boy wasn't even sure how he had come to be here... wherever _here_ was. All he remembered was being chased by a group of angry villagers, a normal, daily custom, except this time... they seemed even more upset than normal. Lanes and byways passed by in a blur; his chest burned, the screams of the villagers had mashed together into a deafening roar—he didn't feel the pitchfork that speared him through the ankle, pinning him in place, until he had already jerked forward, crashing to the ground. Before the cry of pain could fully leave his mouth, sake bottles came raining down like a meteor shower... many of them missed, smashing into a sea of glittering grit over the road that nearly blinded the boy... then one shattered over his temple and sent him spiraling down a wave of darkness until he landed... here.

"Weeeirr— _ouch_..." He could a throbbing ache where that pitchfork had tore flesh and yet, looking down, he couldn't see not one mark. "That's... kinda odd... maybe here...?" Reaching up, he tenderly traced his prickling forehead for the gash that had to have been carved into his flesh. "My head hurts really bad but there's... there's nothing there," he muttered.

The gigantic fox before him, the one on the other side of those wrought iron bars, bars that looked both easily breakable yet capable of withstanding the test of time, kept an unusually stringent, wide-eyed leer aimed at the boy.

" **You're bleeding rather profusely from the forehead out there in your domain.** "

The words that met the young boys' ears sounded diseased, festering with a madness dredged up from the darkest corners of the universe where no light had a prayer of reaching, where all manner of nightmares danced and gave birth to unspeakable horrors...

"How're you talking without moving your lips, Mr Fox?" the boy asked, craning his head back in a futile to hold the vast fox in his sights. He saw the furry face, it loomed out of the darkness in a way that bent his senses, and those terrifyingly wide, hunger-riddled eyes were trained on him. "Do you smoke? You sound like you smoke. If you do, you shouldn't," he said, wagging a scolding finger, "smoking's bad for—"

" **I do not smoke,** " the fox rumbled.

A disturbingly thick, miasmic fog spilled out through the bars holding this fox, a fog that covered the ground, and the little boy lifted a foot, partly surprised to find it soaking wet.

"Did you pee back there?" he asked, confused. "'Cause there's a looootta water around here, and it's really warm and—"

The sudden gust of wind that nearly knocked the boy of his feet didn't distract him from the paralyzingly huge claw that tried to gut him like a fish before being caught between the bars. The low metallic _twannnng_ that followed nearly burst his eardrums; the water around his ankles shivered and splashed—

" **Figured, but worth the try**. ... **Well done, Minato.** "

The little boy grinned, then reached out a hand. "That's not my name, but good guess, Mr. Fox! My name's actually Naruto, what's yours?" he asked brightly, trying to shake the gigantic claw before him.

The effort was futile, Naruto couldn't even get his fingers around it, but the claw did move up and down slightly, enough to widen the smile on the blonde's face.

" **My name is Kurama** ," the fox growled pleasantly, though the eyes staring down its snout at the small child still radiated with deadly intent. " **Do you need my help?** "

When the words hit Naruto's ears, and after he flinched again like he was struck by the vibration alone, he glanced up at the fiery eyes glaring down at him. "Do I... need your help...?" The smile that split his lips was genuine. "No, I think I'm doing okay, Mr. Kurama."

For the first time, the fox blinked, upsetting the young boy's footing through force alone. He stumbled back, nearly tripping, but caught himself before he fell over. " **You could very well die within the next ten minutes... and you claim you do not need my help**?"

Naruto nodded, merrily splashing through the water back up to the incomprehensibly big claw jutting through the bars. "I'm good now!" It was the kind of happiness only a child could exhibit, a happiness that didn't know of the horrors the world had in store for them as they aged.

To the fox, to Kurama, none of the little boy's words made sense. " **Why are you okay?** "

"Because I'm gonna die," Naruto answered blithely.

Nonplussed, Kurama wiggled its protruding claw. " **And why is that a good thing? Should you not strive to live? You are young; your kind tend to live several decades.** "

Answering Kurama's question wasn't very high on the list for Naruto, who seemed far more enamored in the claw before him, watching it bounce up and down in time with his shakes. He had always dreamed of something like this... having a place where he could be by himself, that was safe. And while this long, sewer-like corridor with the giant fox at the end wasn't exactly like how he had planned, it was miles better than where he had come from.

"It's good 'cause I heard that once you die, you don't feel any pain... that's what the villagers keep telling me, and it must be true 'cause I don't feel anything right now!" Naruto nodded vehemently, furrowing his brow and caressing the spot on his head where he had been struck. "Whenever I get hit, there's lots of blood—"

" **Yes, I know.** "

"—but right now, look... see?" He extended his hand palm up toward the bars. "There's nothing there." Naruto smiled. "It must mean I'm dying, which is great."

In a motion that caused the wind to swirl about threateningly, Kurama lowered his monolithic head, skating his chin over the water-logged floor. Those haunting eyes fixed themselves upon Naruto, who waved with the hand that wasn't still shaking Kurama's claw.

" **It is not great,** " Kurama breathed.

Quirking an eyebrow, Naruto started stamping around in the water, send droplets flying in all directions. "I'm here," he said, pointing down, "and not _there._ " He pointed back down the darkened corridor, toward where he knew led back to Konoha... back into the hands of those who hated him. "That's... here's gotta be better, right?" He looked up into Kurama's furry face, and could feel his own beginning to scrunch up. "Any... anywhere's g-gotta be better..."

Instead of answering, Kurama softly exhaled a gust of wind from his snout that ruffled the boy's clothes, if the three-sizes-too-big shirt with the blood stain and the extra baggy, extra frayed pants could be considered clothes. When the child laughed, it wasn't Kurama's first time hearing it, but it was his first time _listening_ it, actually taking note of the voice that came out of the boy's mouth.

" **If you were to die, then those monsters wrapped in human flesh win.** "

Pausing in the act of hitching up his pants, Naruto blinked, turning his head up at the fox. "They... win? Win what? I didn't know we were playing a game," he said, tying the drawstrings together with a sloppy knot that would no doubt come undone in the next five minutes. "Is it supposed to be painful...? Do I have to play?" There was a note of pleading in Naruto's voice as he returned attention to the eldritch fox. "Can't I just—I wouldn't mind if they won... I don't wanna play their stupid game anyway!"

" **It's not something you have a choice in, I'm afraid,** " Kurama rumbled, watching as the little blonde's face fell. " **Your domain is out there, among them—** "

"WHY?" Naruto exploded, sounding for the first time upset. "Why do I gotta be out there with them? They don't even like me!"

" **And why don't they like you?** " Kurama wondered.

"I dunno!" Naruto shrugged, sounding truly lost. "I haven't done anything! I don't… at least I don't think so! I don't know their names, b-but they know mine, so… I thought they were friends, that they _wanted_ to be friends but…."

" **You will come to learn very quickly that everyone who knows your name, they do not wish to have anything to do with you,** " Kurama told him, and when Naruto stared up at him, confusion prominent amidst the pain resonating in his face, the fox went on, " **You are very special—** "

Naruto's eyes sparkled. "I am?"

"— **and things that are special, they often garner fear, misunderstanding… distrust. The people of your village realize this, they know what you are, and that frightens them.** " A hard gust of wind blew from Kurama's nostrils, powerful enough to almost send the little boy flying." **They fear that one day you will grow out of their control, beyond their grasp... and you know what? They have every right to fear. What you are, not a soul breathing in that village can even fathom.** "

Kurama could almost see the gears turning in Naruto's head, struggling to make sense of the ethereal words bouncing around the corridor.

Then the blonde looked up. "But… what am I?"

And there it was… the question that Kurama had been waiting to hear since the young one's appearance, the question that caused the most sinister smile to peel through the great fox's lips.

" **You are me.** "

Naruto stared, then broke out into laughter. "I'm not you, silly… you're a fox!"

" **No, little kitten** …" Kurama inched his head closer, so close that his snout poked through the rusted bars and right up against Naruto's chest. " **We are** _ **one**_."

**The End**


End file.
